Novels

Game Masters looking to run Christmas-themed one-shot games over the holidays need look no further than The Nightmare Before Christmas. Tim Burton's movie has become an iconic symbol of the holiday cycle in America, but its roots are much older...and considerably more violent. For that, we can thank L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
&nbsp...READ MORE

I often compare fiction writing and publishing with game designing and publishing. They’re similar creative efforts in many ways, especially in tabletop and in the lower ends of video games where you can have one person creating the game. &nbsp...READ MORE

This is a broader question than just RPGs but the same arguments apply. It’s important for RPG designers, for consistency and to avoid immersion-breaking, but it’s probably not important to players. &nbsp...READ MORE

As a long-time Dungeons & Dragons player, I sometimes take for granted just how much tabletop role-playing games elevated fantasy artwork. Whether it was on the cover of D&D boxed sets or in the pages of Dragon Magazine, fantastically-detailed art seemed par for the course. But art tells stories: it shares the outlook of its creators, it expresses thematic differences in editions, and it tells us how to play. Art & Arcana’s greatest achievement is in reminding us why art matters to D&D. &nbsp...READ MORE

This week's crop of new releases aim to open your imagination to worlds of wonder and bring you adventures that will be Legendary! Stories and endeavors worthy of sagas to be told for generations! Or, in other words, here are a great crop of new games for you and your group to enjoy. Hope you spot something you can't wait to bring to your table! &nbsp...READ MORE

Hello everyone, Darryl here with this week’s gaming news! Lots of new D&D products coming over the next few weeks, a new edition of Savage Worlds, Tales from the Loop getting a sequel, and more! &nbsp...READ MORE

Dungeons & Dragons has a multitude of gaming and literary influences, but two that stand out are H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and the sword-swinging barbarian character Conan by R.E. Howard. D&D brings the two together in a fashion that's become standard fantasy now, but was revolutionary for a role-playing game. &nbsp...READ MORE

Dungeons & Dragons draws on a rich mythology from the works of European authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and Michael Moorcock. And yet D&D was also influenced by American authors like Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, H.P. Lovecraft, and R.E. Howard. The end result is that D&D's tone sits somewhere between the two. &nbsp...READ MORE

Welcome back to this weeks rundown of the games hitting stores this week, as well as a look back at last weeks RPG PDF releases! The new edition of RuneQuest, as well as EN Publishing's own Modern Action RPG 'N.O.W.' came out in PDF last week, whilst we see a new sourcebook for the Mystic career path released for Star Wars: Force & Destiny in print! Check out the full list of board games, card games, RPGs, Wargames, Miniatures and collectible games below!
&nbsp...READ MORE

Hello everyone, Darryl here with this week’s gaming news. Big new product announcements and reprints from Wizards of the Coast, an Old Spice-based character class, a Warhammer 40K café is coming soon, the game industry mourns the passing of an award-winning artist, and more.

There's a new Drizzt Do'Urden trilogy on its way! Timeless, by R.A. Salvatore, will be released as a 432-page hardcover on 18th September for $27.99 as the start of a new trilogy set in Menzoberranzan, the Underdark city of the Drow. &nbsp...READ MORE

Fantasy is now much more mainstream, so it's easy to forget how influential the debut of the Harry Potter franchise was on the genre. And yet despite the blockbuster success of the franchise we never got an official Harry Potter tabletop role-playing game -- for Dungeons & Dragons or any other system.

There are many works of fiction that D&D draws upon for inspiration, as co-creator Gary Gygax made clear with his Appendix N in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide. Jon Peterson identified a theme that some of the Appendix N fiction has in common, known as a "visitation theme." It serves as a useful template for how D&D is portrayed -- now and in the future.

Green Ronin has posted its plans for the first half of 2018, which include The Expanse RPG, being Kickstarted in a few months, Modern Age in the Spring, along with the World of Lazarus setting, a new edition of Freedom City for Mutants & Masterminds, and more! &nbsp...READ MORE

Welcome back to our weekly look at tabletop roleplaying game crowdfunding campaigns! This week brings us a film noir RPG from a first time designer, the twenty-fourth installment of a 5th Edition adventure series from someone who's certainly not a first timer, a 5th Ed/Pathfinder setting, a d20/3.5 setting and a superpowered fiction anthology! Oh, and also my own latest campaign... If you have anything you’d like us to cover, or questions about anything we talk about, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me directly.
&nbsp...READ MORE

Reviews

Tired of all the fantasy role-playing games with a grim and dark palette? Well, Renegade Studios delivers a rules light system with a many-layered setting for players seeking out something brighter. Join the ranks of the Skyborn, with Overlight.

If getting your whole group together to play during December is a challenge, a holiday one-shot might be a perfect solution, and the official D&D Adventurer's League module Winter's Splendor by Ashley Warren is a great option. Even better, if you're running Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, it's a good side adventure any time of the year.

Do you want to experience the danger a teenager trapped in a monster haunted town in the 1980s faces? Do you want to fight back against the monsters by break dancing and head banging using old school D&D derived rules? Then Dark Places & Demogorgons might be the RPG you are looking for.